Rushlift's solution for Virgin Atlantic

Rushlift GSE, the specialist airport ground support equipment subsidiary of Doosan Industrial Vehicles UK, has provided Virgin Atlantic with an innovative Alfa Drop Box solution for facilitating the changing of aircraft tyres at London’s two busiest airports.

The ground-level loading, fully demountable drop-box system allows the easy loading and unloading of aircraft tyres, such as those used on the Airbus A340, Boeing 747 and 787 Dreamliner, and provides the option to exchange or totally remove a box from its chassis for fast turnaround – making the boxes useful for storage as well as transport.

In a leasing agreement arranged through Rushlift GSE, three specially adapted front-wheel drive Fiat Ducato vehicles, along with three T-boxes and three flat-decks were supplied to Virgin Atlantic for airside deployment at Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

The versatile system, with its unique U-shaped chassis, allows a box to be gently lowered and left at a location while work is being carried out, freeing up the vehicle for other duties and helping to reduce the size of the fleet required.

Shaun Judson, senior material operations planner at Virgin Atlantic Airways, says: "Working with Rushlift GSE and Alfa Drop Box, we were successful in implementing a highly effective and flexible solution with plenty of options for the future."

Virgin Atlantic leases its ground service equipment from Rushlift GSE under a full maintenance contract.